Keeping the Kids Entertained This Easter Will Boost the Economy by GBP 2 Billion

- Parents will be spending on average GBP 306.22 to entertain their children over the Easter school holidays this year

- Eight out of ten British children don't know the true meaning of Easter

- A quarter of children think Easter is to celebrate the Easter Bunny's birthday

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire - March 21, 2013) - This Easter break, the British economy will receive a welcome boost of just over £2 billion pounds as parents across the country dig deep into their pockets to keep their children entertained during the school holidays - according to a new consumer study by Travelodge Hotels.

Keeping school age children entertained over two weeks is no easy task, therefore in order to keep their little darlings out of mischief, British parents will be forking out on average £306.22 on a short break, several Daycation trips and on traditional handy crafts and home baking; in a bid to keep their children entertained this Easter break.

Listed below are the top ten UK cities where families are spending above the national average and will be splashing out the most money to keep their children amused over the Easter holidays:

Cities

Average spend during the Easter Holidays

Average spend on a 'Daycation'

Wolverhampton

£450.00

£80.71

Swansea

£418.30

£44.15

Liverpool

£381.24

£39.65

Aberdeen

£370.30

£32.03

London

£361.26

£40.18

Leicester

£357.26

£35.85

Portsmouth

£347.68

£40.47

Glasgow

£316.46

£31.71

Cardiff

£312.72

£39.32

Birmingham

£307.14

£37.18

The research conducted with 2,000 British families by Travelodge also revealed that parents are reliving their childhood holiday memories this Easter and taking their children on inexpensive trips to: the countryside, the seaside, to museums and to visit family, rather than taking a foreign holiday and to avoid their children sat for hours in front of the TV watching DVDs and playing games.

The report revealed that 34 per cent of British families have booked a UK coastal break this Easter with the top destinations being: Blackpool, Brighton, Devon and Cornwall.

Nearly a quarter, (23%) of British households is planning to explore the lush British countryside during the Easter school holidays with the top destinations being: The Lake District, North & South Wales, The Yorkshire Dales and The Peak District.

A fifth of parents reported they are planning to take their children on a UK city tour this Easter, with the UK's capital cities (London, Edinburgh, Cardiff) being the most popular destinations, in addition to Bath, Liverpool and Manchester.

Interestingly just 11% of parents reported they are taking their children to a theme park over the Easter holidays and just 14% of families stated they are taking a foreign holiday this Easter.

Further research findings revealed British parents will treat their children to three Daycation trips (days out) during the holidays, with each day costing on average £37.50.

The study also revealed over half of parents are using their working holiday entitlement to take time off work to look after their children rather than forking out on expensive childcare and holiday clubs.

In a bid to save some money over the Easter school holidays a third of parents are planning to replicate popular cooking TV programmes at home, which their children enjoy watching such as: 'The Great British Bake Off', 'MasterChef', 'Cupcake Wars' and 'Come Dine with Me'.

In addition a quarter of parents will be reliving their memories of watching 'Blue Peter' when they were a child and will be making arts and crafts with their children out of household items such as old washing up bottles, kitchen roll and cereal boxes.

Listed below are the top activities parents will be doing with their children during the Easter school holidays

1.

Going to the cinema

(40%)

2.

Visiting family and friends

(39%)

3.

Baking at home

(31%)

4.

Going on a picnic

(30%)

5.

Going to the beach

(29%)

6.

Taking a trip to the countryside

(27%)

7.

Going to a museum

(25%)

8.

Doing crafts at home

(23%)

9.

Visiting a farm

(18%)

10.

Going bowling

(16%)

The study also revealed in a bid to add extra value to their household budget four out of ten British families over the last couple of months have been sourcing newspapers and websites for money off coupons to make their pennies go further during the Easter school holidays.

A third of parents surveyed stated they heavily rely on money off vouchers to help manage their finances and will invest around two hours per week in searching for coupons. A fifth of mums stated they regularly swap money off coupons with other mums at the school gates.

Shakila Ahmed, Travelodge Spokeswoman said: "Keeping the children entertained over the Easter school holidays is no easy task. Interestingly for the forthcoming Easter break our bookings data has shown a spike in multiple singular night family bookings.

"Savvy parents are splitting a traditional two night short stay in one location to a single night stay in two different areas to help maximise their trip. Popular destinations include central and Greater London, Liverpool and Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow and also, Blackpool and The Lake District.

"A multiple location short break is a great way of seeing more of the UK within one trip; it also offers great value and makes children think they have had a longer holiday."

Further findings revealed a fifth of parents reported they find it very stressful keeping their children entertained during the Easter holidays and one in ten parents stated they wished school holidays were shorter.

Interestingly when respondents were quizzed on the religious aspect of Easter, 87% of parents reported that they are not going to church over the Easter holidays.

Nearly eight out of ten parents (79%) stated that their children do not know the true meaning of Easter.

A quarter of British children think Easter is to celebrate the Easter Bunny's birthday and more than a quarter think this is the date chocolate was invented.

One in 20 said it was to mark Jesus' birthday, while six out of ten didn't know why eggs were a feature of Easter.

Easter Sunday also marks the end of Lent, yet only one in ten Britons gave something up for lent. Also just one in ten British households will be eating fish on Good Friday.

The one Easter tradition that is growing this year is 68 per cent of Britons will purchase on average six Easter Eggs this year. The average spend on each chocolate egg will be £4.99 - total spending being: £29.94.

Notes to editors:

The Easter spending consumer study was conducted in March 2013 with a sample group of 2,000 parents across the UK. The survey was conducted by Onepoll.

The £2.3 billion figure has been calculated via the following formula:

There are 7,700,000 British families in the UK with dependant children (source ONS)

The first budget hotel brand to launch in the UK in 1985, Travelodge now operates over 500 hotels and over 35,400 rooms across the UK, Ireland (11) and Spain (4). Travelodge plans to grow its estate to 1,100 hotels and 100,000 rooms by 2025. Over 13 million people stayed with Travelodge last year and 90% of reservations are currently made online at travelodge.co.uk, where room rates start at £19 per night. The chain employs over 6,000 staff.